[Codewar] Path Finder #1: can you reach the exit?

https://www.codewars.com/kata/5765870e190b1472ec0022a2/java

Codewars: Train your coding skills

 

Task

You are at position [0, 0] in maze NxN and you can only move in one of the four cardinal directions

(i.e. North, East, South, West). Return true if you can reach position [N-1, N-1] or false otherwise.

Empty positions are marked .. Walls are marked W. Start and exit positions are empty in all test cases.

 

 

 

Solution

 

public class Finder {

    private static final char PATHWAY_COLOR = '.';
    private static final char WALL_COLOR = 'W';
    private static final char BLOCKED_COLOR = 'B';
    private static final char PATH_COLOR = 'p';
      
    public static boolean findMazePath(int x, int y, char[][]maze, int N) {
      if (x<0 || y<0 || x>=N || y>=N) {return false;}
      else if (maze[x][y] != PATHWAY_COLOR) {return false;}
      else if (x == N-1 && y == N-1) {
        maze[x][y] = PATH_COLOR;
        return true;
      }
      else {
        maze[x][y] = PATH_COLOR;
        if (findMazePath(x - 1, y, maze, N) || 
          findMazePath(x, y + 1, maze, N) ||
          findMazePath(x + 1, y, maze, N) ||
          findMazePath(x, y - 1, maze, N)) {
          return true;
        }
        maze[x][y] = BLOCKED_COLOR;
        return false;
      }
      
    }
      
    static boolean pathFinder(String maze1) {
        int N = 0;
        int count = 0;
        boolean result;
        char[] chs = maze1.toCharArray(); 
        
        for(int i=0; i<chs.length; i++) {
          if(chs[i]=='\n') {N=i; break;}
        }
        if(N==0) {return true;}
        char[][] maze = new char[N][N];
        
        for(int i=0; i<N; i++) {
          for(int j=0; j<N; j++) {
            if(chs[count]=='\n')
              count++;
              maze[i][j] = chs[count];
              count++;
          }
        }
        
        findMazePath(0,0,maze,N);
        
        if(maze[N-1][N-1]==PATH_COLOR) {return true;}
        else {return false;}

    }
}